Within a day Najab discovered that the fellow was an absolute rogue who drove such acussed bargain

that for the first time in his hearing his father started mouthing obscenities. Inthese border villages the pattern of life was such that if a man was absent long with his camel,it was taken for granted that he had made a foray across the desert into Pakistan. He knew of overworked camels dying of fatigue, of the patrolling parties of the B.S.F. and the Indus Rangers and the miragechequered, trackless wastes of the desert.But he succumbed to a rushof blood and the face of Fatimah beckoned him like a mirage. When the dust settled half anhour later he was alone in the Rann. Under a hot tin sky, the Rann was blazing now, throwingup white needles which hurt the eyes.Two hours before dawn, Kaley Shah was woken up by the beat constable banging on the door.A smuggler has come across the Rann, Kaley Shah. Najab thought that Kaley Shah'swaist cloth, with its black and white checks looked like a chess board. The next two days Kaley Shah was busy buying cloves and arranging to get Allahrakha grazed a few miles away,by a cowherd. Najab slept in the cattle-shed in the evening and slipped into Fatimah's roomlate at night.Has it never occurred to you to take a ride on Allahrakha across the Rann? He had waitedwith his camel at the outskirts of the village and she had slipped out after her father hadstarted snoring. For her it meant just a shift in dialect, a smear of Kutchi added and a little of Sindhi sandpapered away.And the camel lurched and bumped onwards and Najab drove himhard. As they neared Khavda, the thunder started rolling and reverberating across theskies. Three times during the night Aftab opened the door, thinking his son had come. Yes,"replied Najab, as he ushered Fatimah in.The rain stormed down and swept away three years of drought.